Graham ‘Skroo’ Turner shares the highs and lows of Flight Centre and his 50 years in travel

Graham "Skroo" Turner grew up in splendid isolation. His family owned an orchard in Southeast Queensland, and he rode a pushbike to school, which was so small it only required one teacher. Even when he went to university, he avoided humans and decided to study vet science.

Skroo, now 74 years old, still sits atop Flight Centre (ASX: FLT), Australia's largest travel agency, which operates in 24 countries. He is the fearless leader of thousands of employees and has a unique management technique that has allowed the company to scale well beyond its humble beginnings.

While Flight Centre was officially born in the early 1980s in Australia, its predecessor, Top Deck, kicked off in 1973, dreamt up over a beer with some friends at Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany. The Top Deck story is legendary in Australian corporate history, with Skroo and his clan driving buses out of London to all parts of the globe, including Afghanistan and Morocco.

He was back in London a few weeks ago to celebrate the 50th birthday of Top Deck and enjoy a beer with some of the old crew who shared his sense of adventure.

Skroo has come a long way in the 50 years and has run into a few potholes and even roadblocks. There was 9-11, The GFC, and of course, the COVID-19 virus that induced a near-death experience for Flight Centre. Somehow he has battled through and still seems to enjoy it. In fact, not much has changed. He still looks and sounds like an orchard farmer from Queensland, retaining his laid-back manner that disguises an entrepreneur with a mean competitive streak.

In this episode of Success and More Interesting Stuff, Turner talks about growing up on a farm, how he began his career in tourism, his unique approach to management as well as the highs and lows of Flight Centre’s journey.

Time stamps

• 0:00 - Introduction
• 1:50 - 50-years since the launch of Top Deck
• 4:56 - Growing up in isolation and breeding a sense of adventure
• 8:59 - Travelling through Europe sows the seeds of a travel business
• 16:10 - The first Flight Centre stores and rapid growth
• 24:20 - Flight Centre lists on the ASX
• 26:08 - The ‘Families, Villages and Tribes’ approach to management
• 30:43 - Don’t sweat the small stuff and the alchemy of growth
• 34:56 - The enormous cost of COVID-19 for Flight Centre
• 40:26 - The future for airline travel in Australia
• 46:08 - Making Flight Centre relevant for young people
• 47:42 - Succession